A renewed outbreak of the coronavirus continues to gain stream as 110 new cases were verified on Tuesday, 14 of which were identified among those arriving in Israel from overseas. Of the new cases, 66 were detected in Israel's school system, where 64 students and two staff members infected.
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Israel has recorded 840,166 coronavirus cases, including 6,428 deaths, since the global pandemic erupted in March 2020. As of Thursday morning, Israel has 554 active cases of the virus, including 26 patients in serious condition.
The Health Ministry said that of the 45,175 Israelis screened for the virus on Tuesday, 0.3% tested positive.
As part of Israel's public vaccination campaign, hailed globally as a success, 5,506,696 Israelis have recieved the first dose of the vaccine, and 5,152,668 have been fully immunized.
The northern town of Binyamina where 108 active cases were confirmed this week, is now classified as "orange" in accordance with the Health Ministry's "stoplight system" for classifying localities according to the level of infection. The central city of Modiin, which has also seen an outbreak, is now "yellow."
Each classification carries various restrictions on public life, including gatherings and quarantine.
On Wednesday, the government reinstated the coronavirus cabinet, Channel 12 News reported. The specizlied panel will comprised Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Economy Minister Orna Barbivay, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, Housing and Construction Minister Ze'ev Elkin, and Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana.
The government said a plan to stop the variant originally detected in India would be released to the public in the coming days.
Also on Wednesday, the IDF Homefront Command said it will set up seven COVID screening centers at outbreak hotspots. Likewise, there are plans to increase the number of sample collection centers to 30 nationwide.
With the majority of new cases arriving from overseas, Coronavirus Commissioner Nachman Ash said: "What's been happening at Ben-Gurion Airport throughout [the pandemic] is an attempt to strike a balance between the ability to exit and enter Israel and the ability to protect the public.
"We may require masks again," he said.
As for the vaccination of children, Ash said, "The overwhelming professional opinion was to wait with vaccinating children. Now, things have changed. There is morbidity here, and in the US, 2 million children have been vaccinated and we know that has gone well. We can offer the public more confidence and call for vaccination."
"We know how the Israeli public has behaved throughout [the pandemic]. If we had launched a campaign to vaccinate children a few weeks ago, I don't think we would have achieved the numbers we would have liked. Now the situation has changed," he said.
Around 28,000 Israeli teens between the ages of 12 and 15 have been vaccinated thus far.
Professor Arnon Afek, the associate director general of the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, said, "The decision as to whether to wear a mask in a closed space is derived from the population's morbidity levels. This brings us back to the days of March 2020, when there was a stage where morbidity was focused [in certain locations] and until the situation where it had spread among the population.
"At this stage in which morbidity is situated we can focus the mask issue on places where there is an outbreak, like a community or school," he contiued. "Another place where there is logic in wearing masks is a place where you assume there is greater morbidity, like Ben-Gurion Airport, and institutions where you want to protect people who are immune-oppressed that you don't want to infected, like schools or nursing homes. In my opinion, we need to move to a comprehensive decision only when there is spread in the general population that is expressed in an increase in the positive infection rate," he said.
As for reports vaccinated individuals who came into contact with a patient infected with the variant first detected in India will need to enter quarantine, Afek said that the vaccination "is effective at preventing overall morbidity and over 94% [effective] at preventing morbidity. All the medical literature points to the vaccine doing an excellent job of protecting [against the coronavirus], including the Indian variant.
He said: "We also know that the vaccinated can become infected. The good news is that to the best of our knowledge, they are not as seriously ill and they infect [others] less. I don't know what the rationale is for deciding that vaccinated [individuals] will also enter quarantine."
The Israel Police will ramp up enforcement at Ben-Gurion Airport, with a special focus on masking and entering quarantine upon entry into the country from overseas. Fines have been hiked to tackle the problem so that individuals aged 12 and over caught violating quarantine will pay 5,000 shekels (around $1500). Around 270 officers have been enlisted to help enforce quarantines.
Speaking from Ben-Gurion Airport following the spike in cases among those returning from overseas, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recommended against Israelis traveling abroad for the foreseeable future. He noted the airport would remain open.
All passengers entering the airport would undergo rapid coronavirus testing, he said.
Noting the long lines for testing seen in recent weeks, Bennett said he had ordered more testing stations.
"We increased the testing stations from 30 to 70, and we will be able to expand that as necessary so that the lines don't get too long," he said.
"We don't need to panic. We're doing well right now. It just depends on your behavior," he said.
Ideas raised by government ministers to prevent the import of coronavirus variants included separating arrivals form high-risk countries and having those flights land at a separate terminal as well as keeping foreign travels to Israel out of the country until early August instead of July, as was initially planned.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced the IDF would help establish a station for the simultaneous and rapid testing of hundreds of individuals at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Israelis have been traveling overseas at an increasingly growing rate, with a record 30,000 set to take the skies in one day this week.
Despite efforts to rein in the virus's spread, flights from Russia and India, two countries with the highest infection rates, continue to land in Israel. Quite a few Israelis have continued to travel to those banned destinations by flying to another destination first. Israeli authorities have not been checking passport stamps and as a result do not know where exactly Israeli travelers have been.
While the government has acquired tens of thousands of electronic monitoring bracelets to help enforce quarantine among those returning from overseas, they have not yet been put to use.
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